Generally speaking, in the
UK college is somewhere you go when you haven't quite reached the
grade required for a
University level
education, but desire to gain a
vocational qualification of some sort. These generally span from
diplomas in anything from
hairdressing to
automotive repair.
When I moved to the
US I was surprised when people asked me about my
college, as I have some degree of pride in going to a
University instead of a college, as the
former given you a higher quality of
education the the
latter.
As far as I can remember, the difference between the two is that a
University can
award degrees, while a
college can only
award diplomas.